Mary Ann Anderson | Tribune News Service

AUGUSTA, Ga.—Ever since Bobby Jones organized the first Masters at Augusta National in 1934, the international tournament has become the holy grail of every golfer hankering to play on its hallowed links or at least snag a coveted ticket to walk the 18-hole course alongside the greats of the sport: Woods, Mickelson, Scheffler, McIlroy and Fowler.

Georgia’s gift to the golfing universe is the Masters, and the Masters certainly helped put Augusta on the map. Well, that and perhaps a few famous folks from this city of 202,000, including the great rhythm and blues master and Godfather of Soul James Brown, singer and songwriter Amy Grant, Metropolitan Opera soprano Jessye Norman, actor Laurence Fishburne, wrestling star Hulk Hogan, and Danielle Brooks, the Oscar nominee for her performance in the movie remake of “The Color Purple.”

With Masters week approaching — it takes place April 8-14 — it’s good to know there’s more to Augusta than golf and a celebrity or two.

Among the fun facts about the Garden City, as Augusta is known because of its profusion of private gardens and dazzling spring flowers, is that it was named after Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and wife of Frederick, Prince of Wales, a title now held by Prince William. The princess was the mother of King George III, and James Oglethorpe, who established Georgia in 1736, attempted to win royal favor with the crown, so he named the former trading post after her.

The skyline of downtown Augusta reflects in the Savannah River, the dividing line with North Augusta, South Carolina. Augusta was founded in 1736 and named for Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, wife of Frederick, Prince of Wales. (Destination Augusta/TNS)

Augusta was also the second capital of Georgia, sharing that honor with Savannah, Louisville, Milledgeville and Atlanta, the now permanent home of state government. The Medical College of Georgia, the state’s first medical school, is in the Garden City, and although it has changed names several times over the past few years, it is now and will always be affectionately known to Georgians simply as MCG.

While it may not be politically correct to write of such things, at least 10 Confederate generals, including Maj. Gen. Joe Wheeler and Lt. Gen. James Augustus Longstreet, were either born, once lived in or are interred in Augusta. To top that, two of the three Georgians who signed the Declaration of Independence, George Walton and Lyman Hall, are buried downtown on Greene Street. The third, Button Gwinnett, is buried in Savannah.

A statue in downtown Augusta honors Gen. James Edward Oglethorpe, who founded Georgia and named Augusta after Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and wife of Frederick, Prince of Wales. (Mary Ann Anderson/TNS)

Quick hits: The Augusta Chronicle, first published in 1785, is not only the oldest newspaper in Georgia, but also in the South. Actress Jayne Mansfield lived in Augusta, as her husband Lt. Paul Mansfield, was stationed at Camp Gordon, later to become Fort Gordon. North Augusta is not in Georgia but over the Savannah River in South Carolina. And golfer Larry Mize is the only Augustan to ever win the Masters.

The Georgia-born Ty Cobb, the first player inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, kickstarted his professional career in 1904, playing for the Augusta Tourists of the South Atlantic League. While he played for Detroit in 1905, he maintained his home in Augusta until 1932. His first wife, Charlotte “Charlie” Lombard was from Augusta, and four of their five children were born here.

Other high-flying tidbits about the city add to its singular character, including that brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright created one of the first commercial flight schools near what is now Daniel Field, one of Augusta’s two airports and where most golfers park their jets while they’re playing Amen Corner at Augusta National. Peter Carnes, who launched the first hot-air balloon flight in America in 1784 in Philadelphia, lived in and flew hot-air balloons in Augusta.

That’s enough trivia to whet your appetite to visit Augusta, either during the Masters or any time of the year. But once you get here, you need to know where to eat and stay as you uncover more minutiae of the marvelous city.

Eats and drinks, Augusta-style

Augusta is all about food, and its restaurants offer everything Southern from grits and gravy to pecan pie to soul food shacks to fine dining. Try Finch and Fifth for brunch, lunch, dinner and happy hour for fabulous charcuterie and Georgia specialties such as boiled peanuts, Vidalia onion dip or shrimp and grits. For unique dishes of fried pickled okra (you read that correctly), smoked chopped brisket or chili garlic shrimp, then reservations-required Noble Jones, known locally as NoJo, should be on your radar screen.

Frog Hollow Tavern, touted as a “modern restaurant meets bar,” is downtown on Broad Street and is the place to try regionally grown ingredients that make up dishes that include buttermilk-fried quail or braised Berkshire pork shoulder with collards and mac-and-cheese. Laziza Mediterranean Grill offers an international menu of Mediterranean-inspired goodies of gyros, kebabs and yummy baklava.

For dining and libations with a view, try Edgar’s Above Broad, a snazzy rooftop restaurant in downtown for breakfast, lunch or dinner, for Southern palate showstoppers of deviled eggs, pimento cheese dip, blue crab dip and pulled pork nachos.

Beck’s on King’s Way in the heart of Augusta is known for its seafood, including oysters raw and baked with ingredients of jalapeno, Parmesan and Asiago cheeses, and herb butter. You can also get Scottish salmon, blackened grouper or a shrimp burger, all with the perfect side of pimento-cheese hush puppies.

Both Augustans and visitors enjoy the sumptuous breakfasts at the Brunch House of Augusta, from biscuits and gravy to full platters. Augusta is known for its restaurants featuring Southern food. (Destination Augusta/TNS)

That first meal of the day is important, so try starting it out at Brunch House of Augusta for biscuits smothered in pork or turkey sausage gravy, chicken and waffles, or the Garden City breakfast bowl with an omelet over stone-ground grits. Lunch at Brunch House is salads, burger and pasta, but French toast stuffed with Dutch apples, strawberries or blueberries is also on the menu.

Stays, Augusta-style

Old is the new cool in Augusta, and you have a choice of historic hotels and inns to lay your head at night. The original setting of the iconic Partridge Inn Augusta, managed by Curio Collection by Hilton, is an 1836 home that has been carefully restored and remains intact inside the inn. For the past 100 years or so, it’s been a hotel that has seen the likes of presidents, luminaries of every sort and, of course, Masters golfers. Set high atop the gently sloping, verdant hills of the Summerville neighborhood, the hotel also houses the 8595 Restaurant and Bar with its Southern cuisine and that is known for its “Best of Augusta” lavish brunch on Sundays.

The Partridge Inn is one of Augusta’s most historic buildings. Serving as a hotel for more than a hundred years, it was first built in 1836 as a private home. (Destination Augusta/TNS)

The Olde Town Inn, in Georgia’s oldest neighborhood of Olde Town, has only five rooms, each one decorated in period furnishings and each with a full bath and fireplace. Brimming with charm and character, the inn was built in 1896. One of Augusta’s best kept secrets is that the Fox’s Lair, a cozy underground bar, is downstairs in the basement and features live music.

Another small bed-and-breakfast is the Queen Anne Inn, a Victorian-style home built in 1894. With its wide porch, balconies and soaring chimney and turret, it’s a quiet place to step back in time and unwind. The downtown inn is close to restaurants, museums and attractions, so park the car and put on your walking shoes.

If a historic inn isn’t quite for you, nearly every chain hotel is located either in or near Augusta, among them the Augusta Marriott, the Hyatt House Downtown Augusta and Crowne Plaza North Augusta.

Now that you’re armed with a basic blueprint of Augusta’s history, legend and lore, and whether you’re moseying on down, over or up to Augusta to either play or just watch the Masters, know that April is a wonderful time of the year to visit, as the city practically glows with billions of azalea, dogwood and magnolia blossoms as Georgia spectacularly welcomes spring. Much like the Masters, nature is another of Georgia’s gifts to the universe and is best experienced firsthand.

Downtown Augusta is always busy and bustling. The city of about 202,000 is Georgia’s second-oldest city and once served as the state capital. (Destination Augusta/TNS)

If you go

Plan your trip to Augusta by visiting Augusta Convention and Visitors Bureau at www.visitaugusta.com or calling (706) 724-4067.

Visit the Masters Tournament at www.masters.com.

Augusta Regional Airport is served by two major carriers, Delta Air Lines (www.delta.com or (800) 221-1212), with flights to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, and American Airlines (www.aa.com or (800) 433-7300), with flights to Charlotte, Washington-Reagan and Dallas Fort-Worth.

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©2024 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

There are so many things to love about the Hawaiian islands — the beaches, the rainforests, the mai tais and food. And especially the poke.

As soon as I arrive on Kauai or Maui, I hightail it to a local market, poke stand or food truck to get my two scoops of raw, marinated ahi tuna over brown rice. The velvety smooth chunks of freshly caught fish, sometimes topped with strands of dried seaweed, melt in your mouth. And the savory seasonings add just the right amount of kick to make these little bowls of joy “off da hook”, as the locals say.

Poke, which means “to cut” in native Hawaiian, is usually ahi, marinated and topped with a wide variety of flavors, from limu (seaweed) to California (with avocado, of course), shoyu and spicy. Poke can be made with other seafood too, such as kimchee shrimp, furikake salmon or miso tako (octopus).

It’s typically served in bowls over white or brown rice or greens and dashed with favorite toppings, but poke can assume other forms too: poke nachos, tacos, tostadas, even poke musubi.

If you’re hooked on poke like me, make plans to head to the islands soon for the fourth annual Kauai Poke Fest in June. The festival, held at the Koloa Landing Resort on the island’s South Shore, was named one of the top five food festivals in the U.S. last year by USA Today’s 10Best — and it’s up for that honor among specialty food festivals again this year.

This popular one-day event invites professional and amateur chefs to dish out their favorite creations in a competition that seasons and serves more than 500 pounds of fresh ahi. Hosted by James Beard award-winning chef Sam Choy, the so-called Godfather of Poke, the festival celebrates Hawaii’s most famous dish with live entertainment, food and drinks and poke demonstrations, in addition to the poke competition.

The poke fun runs from 3 to 7 p.m. on June 8, with a farmers marketplace that opens at 2 p.m. All proceeds from the event will be donated to the Hawaii Community Foundation’s Maui Strong Fund, whichsupports the needs of those displaced by the devastating Maui wildfires last summer. Find tickets ($90 to $115, ages 21 and up only) and more details at KauaiPokeFest.com.

Want to find the best year-round poke in Hawaii? Ask the locals about their favorite spots, then set your sails for a foodie quest that leads to authentic Hawaiian hole-in-the wall shops, friendly local markets and family-run outfits whose quality poke offerings will surprise you.

You’ll find plenty of suggestions below, but before we get to that, let’s talk fish.

Two of the best-known types of tuna are bluefin and ahi, which is the species typically used for poke bowls. Ahi is the common name for yellowfin (Thunnus albacares) and bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus). If you love scientific names, there are three species of bluefin tuna – Atlantic (Thunnus thynnus), Southern (Thunnus maccoyii), and Pacific (Thunnus orientalis).

A fascinating way to see ahi and other tuna fresh off the boat is to take a guided tour of the world-famous Honolulu Fish Auction, which takes you from dockside to auction floor. (Ben Davidson Photography)

These tuna are among the most powerful fish in the ocean and have torpedo-shaped bodies built for speed;  some species can even reach 47 miles per hour. They are hugely popular with sport fishing charters and a lucrative catch for commercial fishermen — a bluefin tuna sold in Japan in January for nearly $800,000 and individual fish prices can reach into the millions for this prized fish.

A fascinating way to see ahi and other tuna fresh off the boat is to take a guided tour of the world-famous Honolulu Fish Auction — the only fresh tuna auction in the United States. You’ll see how Pacific tuna gets from the dock to restaurants and retail markets in the islands and back on the mainland, and you’ll find out what auction buyers look for in fish quality and the art of tuna grading.

The tour begins dockside with the fishing vessels and a discussion of how the fish are harvested and handled to preserve quality and safety. After learning about daily life on a fishing vessel, you’ll head for the auction floor to learn about how the fish are inspected to insure seafood safety and how a fish auction works.

A fascinating way to see ahi and other tuna fresh off the boat is to take a guided tour of the world-famous Honolulu Fish Auction, which takes you from dockside to auction floor. (Ben Davidson Photography)

Tours ($25-$35) are held from 6 to 7:30 a.m. on select Saturday mornings by reservation. Find details and reserve your spot at hawaii-seafood.org/auctiontour.

Meanwhile, here are some insider tips on where to find some of the best poke in the islands:

Foodland, Hawaii, Kauai, Maui, Oahu

You’ll find 34 locations of this supermarket across the Hawaiian islands. It’s popular among locals for its no-frills poke counter, which serves up generous portions of ahi, mussel and octopus poke at very reasonable prices. Find Foodland locations at shop.foodland.com.

Ono Seafood, Oahu

This hole-in-the-wall spot in Honolulu is famous for its classic shoyu ahi and spicy ahi bowls. It’s very popular so be prepared for lines. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily at 747 Kapahulu Ave. in Honolulu; onoseafood.site.

Off the Hook Poke Market, Oahu

Build your own ahi poke bowl with distinctive flavors like Japan Deluxe (miso sauce with ginger and shisho leaf), Kilauea Fire (chili miso sauce, jalapeño, crushed red pepper) and cold ginger poke. Their miso ginger tako (octopus) poke is also tasty — and popular. It’s open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Saturday at 2908 E. Manoa Road in Honolulu; www.offthehookpokemarket.com

Tamashiro Market, Oahu

This fish market features a poke counter with incredible variety, including spicy kajiki scallop poke and limu poke. It’s open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday-Wednesday and until 5 p.m. Thursday-Saturday at 802 N. King St. in Honolulu; tamashiro-market.weeblyte.com.

Poke Fix Hawaii, Oahu

This tiny, off-the-beaten-path spot is known for its creative poke combinations and Instagram-worthy presentations. Open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily (closed Wednesdays) at 334 Seaside Ave. #108 in Honolulu; instagram.com/pokefixhawaii.

Tamura’s, Oahu and Maui

A popular spot for local poke-lovers, this chain has three markets on Oahu and Maui. For nineyears running, Tamura’s has been named the best spot for poke in Hawaii Magazine’s readers choice awards. The markets — in Wailuku on Maui and Wahiawa and Hau’ula on Oahu — open at 8 a.m., but poke hours vary by location; tamurasmarket.com.

Kahuku Superette, Oahu

Located a few miles from Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu’s famous North Shore, this little local market serves up some of the best shoyu and limu poke bowls on the island. Portions are hefty and the prices are reasonable. The market is open from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays and 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekends at 56-505 Kamehameha Highway in Kahuku.

Fort Ruger Market, Oahu

This deli/market near Honolulu’s Kapiolani Community College has been around since 1935. It’s known for its delicious, sashimi-grade poke and other Hawaiian-style snacks. The market is open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday at 3585 Alohea Ave. in Honolulu.

Alicia’s Market, Oahu

This market offers a wide variety of poke bowls, including wasabi masago, sweet onion shoyu and limu ahi. Open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday-Saturday at 267 Mokauea St. in Honolulu; aliciasmarket.com.

Redfish Poke Bar by Foodland, Oahu

This poke bar has two Honolulu locations, both offering sizable signature bowls and custom poke bowls with 10 styles of ahi, two of hamachi and three of salmon. The Kaka’ako location at 685 Auahi St. opens at 11 a.m. daily, while the poke bar at the Wayfinder Waikiki, 2375 Ala Wai Blvd., opens at 6 a.m.; redfishpoke.com.

Nico’s Pier 38, Oahu

The fish market’s restaurant, which is open for breakfast and lunch only, offers ahi poke “nachos” with kabayaki, green onions and spicy aioli. Marlin is the featured fish in the au poke bowl (shoyu or spicy), in addition to more than a dozen different poke selections. The poke counter opens at 9 a.m. Monday-Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday at 1129 N. Nimitz Highway in Honolulu; nicospier38.com.

Poke on da Run, Oahu

The “mauka to makai” (mountain to sea) nachos combine freshly fried won ton chips topped with twin scoops of kalua pig and ahi poke topped with spicy aioli and green onions. Open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays at 909Lehua Ave. in Pearl City.

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Kaohu Store, Maui

This small convenience store serves up arguably the best poke on Maui. Buy poke by the pound or grab a bowl of their poke specialties, like chili pepper poke or lipoa poke, made with a local seaweed that tastes like cucumber. Opens at 6:30 a.m. weekdays at 1833 Kaohu St. in Wailuku; instagram.com/kaohustore.

Like Poke?, Maui

This popular food truck — so popular, you’ll want to arrive early, before they sell out — is in a new location in Wailuku. Opens at 10:30 a.m. Monday-Saturday; facebook.com/like.poke.1.

Kilauea Market, Kauai

Poke is just one of the rainbow of offerings at this fresh fish eatery and fish market. Chose from sesame or spicy ahi, tako poke and sesame aku or brown or jasmine rice. Open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Saturday at 4270 Kilauea Road in Kilauea; kilaueafishmarket.com.

Koloa Fish Market, Kauai

This very popular South Shore market is famous for poke bowls and offers more than half a dozen varieties, from wasabi ahi to smoked marlin. Get here early and be prepared to wait in line for a great lunch. Open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday-Wednesday and Friday-Saturday at 3390 Poipu Road in Koloa; koloafishmarket.com.

Hanalei and Kealia Poke, Kauai

This poke shop is located in the historic Ching Young Village in the funky surf town of Hanalei on Kauai’s North Shore. They also operate the Kealia poke food truck next to the town’s Big Save market, featured on Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” TV show. The Hanalei poke shop opens at 11:30 a.m. Sunday-Friday and noon on Saturday at 5-5190 Kuhio Highway in Hanalei.

Da Poke Shack, Island of Hawaii 

This Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern-approved shack offers a wide selection of poke flavors from spicy garlic sesame to sweet miso and honey with roasted seaweed. Open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily at 76-6246 Ali‘i Drive in Kailua-Kona; https://dapokeshack.com/

Poke Market, Island of Hawaii 

This Hilo poke shop offers upscale poke bowls with untraditional poke ingredients, such as salmon poke with unagi truffle sauce, and sides that include sweet potato salad. Open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday-Saturday at 41 Waianuenue Ave. in Hilo; pokemarkethi.com.

Suisan Fish Market, Island of Hawaii

A longtime Hilo fish market, Suisan serves up traditional Hawaiian poke, kimchee tako poke and lemon shoyu scallop poke. Open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday-Tuesday and Thursday-Saturday at 93 Lihiwai St. in Hilo; www.suisan.com/our-services/fish-market-fish/.

Umekes Fish Market Bar & Grill, Island of Hawaii

This popular restaurant offers poke flights, poke nachos and poke lettuce cups with avocado poke and a unagi drizzle. Or you can go all in with a Makai platter with three poke choices, four ahi cakes, four raw oysters, sashimi, furikake sashimi, ahi katsu and four shrimp with garlic or spicy aioli with unagi. Open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily at 74-5599 Pawai Place in Kailua-Kona; umekesrestaurants.com.

Earlier this month, author Percival Everett put on a tuxedo to attend the Academy Awards with his wife, novelist Danzy Senna.

First-time filmmaker Cord Jefferson, who adapted Everett’s 2001 novel “Erasure” to make the film “American Fiction,” won for best adapted screenplay and delivered a rousing acceptance speech that was one of the evening’s highlights.

“I like the film quite a bit, and I appreciate the fact that it is not my novel. Cord Jefferson mined my novel and took what he needed to make his film,” says Everett. “And that’s what he’s supposed to do.”

Just don’t expect to see Everett, who is not known for seeking the spotlight, appearing at the Hollywood event in the future.

“We did go, and there’s no need to ever go again,” he laughs, adding that he had a “fine” time. “The attention to the work is nice, but … it was hard to sit through. But at least in between during the commercial breaks, you can wander outside.”

(L-R) Percival Everett and Danzy Senna attend the 96th Annual Academy Awards on March 10, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by JC Olivera/Getty Images)

One of the nation’s most acclaimed novelists as well as the Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California, Everett’s work ethic is legendary: He’s published more than 30 books, and his most recent novels — “Dr. No,” “The Trees,” and “Telephone” — have landed on various shortlists including for the Pulitzer Prize, the Booker Prize, the NBCC Award for Fiction and more. (And he still finds time to paint, fish and play guitar.)

When we meet up on Zoom to discuss his just-published new novel, “James,” Everett is dressed casually and seated in his South Pasadena home office surrounded by books, assorted gear and stringed instruments. In the book, which may be his best yet, the story of Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is narrated by the enslaved character Jim rather than Huck Finn.

In Everett’s version, Jim — or as the character writes when he puts pencil to paper, “James” — reveals himself to be a richer, more complex character: He’s a considerate and loving parent, a teacher and thinker, a builder and fixer of most anything and a self-taught reader and writer (through his surreptitious visits to Judge Thatcher’s library). He is also a determined man wary of the ways in which slavery not only robs the enslaved of their physical freedom and personal safety, but also how the barbaric practice aims to stifle intellectual and emotional freedom, too.

Throughout our conversation, Everett provided thoughtful, wryly humorous responses as we discussed the novel, Twain, “The Andy Griffith Show” and more. (And full disclosure: While this was our first-ever conversation, our spouses were once employed at the same college and know each other.)

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Q. Was ‘Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ a book you had strong feelings about? What drew you to writing your own version?

Well, you know, it has an iconic stature in the literary culture. It’s a novel we know even if we don’t know it. I read it as a little kid in an abridged version, which didn’t do anything for me. 

I love Twain. I didn’t like ‘Tom Sawyer’ at all, but I loved ‘Roughing It,’ I loved ‘Life on the Mississippi,’ and there was another one that was just crazy, ‘The Mysterious Stranger,’ that no one talks about, ‘The Diaries of Adam and Eve.’ Hilarious stuff.

And so, much of my humor was shaped by Twain, and then when I was older, I did read the unabridged ‘Huck Finn’ and even as a teenager, the depiction of Jim, naively on my part, is problematic. It’s not until I was a little more mature and understood Twain and his position in the culture that I could understand that depiction. Maybe not excuse it completely, but understand it.

Q. Can you talk a little more about that?

The novel really is America wandering through this landscape, trying to figure itself out. That’s what Huck is. Huck is the quintessential adolescent American. And I don’t mean 12-year-old American; I mean, 12-year-old America, that young country trying to come to grips with race. And so it really is an important text. 

It’s the first novel where it’s about a person who is subjected to slavery and not about slavery. And so with that in my head, I just wondered if anyone had written it from Jim’s point of view. Since then, I found out that there is a short story — I still haven’t seen it – about Jim after the novel. But I was shocked to find out that no one had written one — and then I realized I hadn’t thought of it either, so I couldn’t really blame anybody. 

Q. One of the most striking things about the character Jim is how you evoke his concern for his family, for others, and for Huck.

Even in ‘Huck Finn,’ the only positive father figure — well, maybe Judge Thatcher, peripherally — that Huck has is Jim. I suppose in some readings it can be reduced to ‘companion,’ but the only positive male role model for him is Jim.

Q. People — like Tom Sawyer, Pap or other adults in his life — are often telling Huck things that aren’t true, but Jim, who is narrating and relating his own story, is possibly the only person telling the truth. 

I hadn’t thought about that so much, but I like that take on it. For Jim, there’s something at stake in his being able to explore ideas in a literary way. At the other end of that, for him, is a freedom that he can’t physically enjoy.

Q. Can you talk about the elements you introduced to the story and what you decided to leave out?

Well, since in the novel, Jim and Huck are separated a lot of the time, those were easy. And since it’s from Jim’s point of view, the dangers inherent in any of those scenes where they are together are different, as well as that it’s through the eyes of an adult rather than a child.

This is not a complaint at all about Twain, but I’m thinking less to entertain than I am to interrogate. And so when I have a chance to work with [con men characters] the duke and the dauphin, my mission is different from Twain’s.

Q. Your novel is affecting, harrowing and, it has to be said, often extremely funny. How did you navigate all those elements?

I’m pathologically ironic, and I think any humor that I employ is a result of that irony. I would be a terrible comedian. I’m no good at making up jokes, but just observing an absurd world.

Do you remember “The Andy Griffith Show”? They can wear on you if watch them, but one of the things that I found great about that show — and I found out later that Griffith worked hard on this — is that there’s not a single joke in it. It’s all story-generated — all the humor is story-generated, except for Don Knotts’ physical humor. That was kind of an object lesson to see that.

Q. Jim has hallucinations in which he debates the philosophers Locke and Voltaire. What made you decide to do that?

Well, again, irony: The Declaration of Independence, being penned by the gnostic Thomas Jefferson, a figure of the Enlightenment like Voltaire and Locke who can espouse equality among men but yet find ways to rationalize slavery.

Q. You’ve mentioned that you have a tradition where you will write a book in the place you first started it. Where did you start this book and write it?

I was at the coffee table. Yeah, that’s pretty much where it happened.

Q. Earlier, you said you don’t remember your books, and I wonder if that’s similar to a reader’s experience — how we can be invested in a book only to find later that it’s hard to recall details of what happened in the story. Is that like what you’re describing?I think that’s probably close to it. I know that sometimes when people remind me of things in my novels, it takes me a while to catch up. Sometimes it’ll be vivid, other times it’ll be completely new, and I kind of like that. I especially like when they have ideas about what it means that I never thought of. I immediately take credit for it: “This is a great idea; of course, I meant that.” [laughs]

Q. Is that disorienting?

Oh, no. It’s just fascinating. People see their own worlds; the work doesn’t exist without a reader and meaning can’t happen without a reader. I wasn’t writing it to convince myself of anything. Lord knows why I was writing it, but there it is.

Q. So after you’ve written it, you no longer need to try to control it.

I can’t control it, so why worry about it? I suppose I could go hang out in front of bookstores and explain things to the six people who leave with my book. [laughs]

Q. If you do, please call me. That sounds great.

Anything I say about one of my works can be completely disregarded.

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